Brothers and Sisters,

Some things are hard to put into words. Some things are understood only by Faith. Today the Christian world proclaims a great wonder. Our brother Jesus Christ, who’s every heartbeat was truly human, surrendered that heart to God his Father in an act of love for the human race.

And now, the divinity that lay hidden in his every human moment, the divinity he possessed before the earth was created, shines forth as Eternal Love. Jesus is alive. We’re invited to share that life with Him. How? “Love one another as I have loved you”. He’ll take care of the rest.

A Blessed Easter to you all.

With Love,
Fr. Tim

Was it just me or was this past winter a particularly hard one? Maybe it seemed that way because I’m getting old- er and less vigorous in mounting the usual “winter coun- ter attack”; you know . . . brisk winter walks in the snow (blaah!).

But now it’s spring and we know what is soon to happen. Driving down to Elmira last week I passed mile after mile of brown, matted field grass. Not a blade of green. The fields seemed to say to the infant springtime . . . “you think you can raise all this brown to life? We’re REALLY dead. But give it a shot, see what you can do.”

And here’s your thought for the day – – do you want to start again? Do you want to live another year? Like nature are you ready to come back to life? Are you ready to embrace the trials and joys of living on this earth?

Certainly we all want to “keep living”. But that’s not what I’m asking. Are you ready to EMBRACE the duties you carry at this stage of your life? Are you ready to “steady on” as loving spouse? Faithful friend? Patient sufferer? A lonely remnant, honoring what once was?

These days of Lent give us the opportunity to look more deeply at things we sometimes take for granted. Like life itself.

It’s a gift. It comes from God through our parents. It gives us a chance to experience an amazing moment in time – – this time, this moment. We have an invitation to contribute something the world has never seen before. Your love. Your caring.

Sooo? After all these winters, do you want to come to life again? It’s really rather simple, it all starts with attitude. What’s yours?

Are you still trying hard to get the shiny things in life? Are you trying mightily to be free of cares or worries? Does thinning or absent hair make you sad? Does being unappreciated and ignored cause resentment?

I think of all the time I’ve devoted myself in this way. Full blown, they create an attitude that expects life to be “for me”, “mine”. My choices are carefully arranged to serve…me. Jesus tells us this way of thinking misses the purpose and reason for which God gave us life.

“If anyone wants to come to me, he must forget himself. Whoever wants to save his life (i.e. protect it , guard and hoard it) will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake will find it (save it).” Luke 9: 23, 24.

And again . . . “Unless the grain of wheat dies it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies it will bear fruit a hundredfold.” John 12: 24.

The message? We are here to be “for” something other than ourselves. That’s right. Our lives, given to us as a gift, are to be given back in love and service, first to God and then to our neighbor.

This saving message of Jesus reveals the purpose of our life. With it, comes a whole shift in attitude. We begin a life of “giving ourselves away”. And guess what hap- pens?! Peace. “Peace is what I leave with you. My own peace I give you. Not like the world and its peace.” John 14: 27

So again. Do you want this new spring? Do you want to pick it up again? That cross you’ve been carrying?

I do. Want to join me? Happy Lent!

Fr. Tim

(While Fr. Tim is away this week the following article was previously written on March 22, 2015, the 5th Sunday of Lent).

As we celebrate the 5th Sunday of Lent this weekend, I’m imagining a couple things may have happened to you in these last weeks.

Some of us have entered vigorously into this season of penance. On Ash Wednesday, with the dirt on your forehead, you were resolved to really make this a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. By now you have begun to feel the spiritual effects of such efforts— a felt desire for God in your life, an eagerness to do good things for the Lord, perhaps a happiness or peace in the midst of day to day difficulties. If so. . . . thank God. This is a great grace you have received.

Others of us have not been so diligent in our observance of the discipline of Lent. Maybe like New Years resolutions, we just got started and then dropped the whole project. Or, perhaps we tried to sacrifice or do something extra in prayer, but saw our efforts slowly go down hill. Maybe you are just now considering this holy season and thinking, “What the heck, it’s more than half over- – – I’ll just wait for Easter and do it up right.

May I offer a suggestion? First off, perhaps the fail- ure to follow through on our Lenten efforts is part of God’s plan for you. In the opening prayer for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (half-way) the Church prays, “Lord, when we are discouraged by our weakness, give us confidence in your love.”

Maybe God wanted you to learn how weak you are! Maybe now you know how much you need God to help you do even the slightest sacrifice. Perhaps in our failures we are beginning to learn the mysterious lessons of humility.

Whatever this Lent has been for you so far really doesn’t matter—– it’s today that should concern us. Why not let this Monday be a new beginning? Let’s call it Ash Monday.

Ask God for the grace that would give you a plan for these next two weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. Such a plan might include:

• going to confession.
• attending Mass one other time during the week.
• sitting everyday for three minutes (or more, if God so moves you) to consider how you might better spend the fleeting days of your life.
• journey with the people of Holy Trinity by being a part of the Holy Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Vigil/Easter Sunday).
• acts of kindness for those with whom you live and work.
• some special act of selflessness offered for peace in the Middle East.

So, come along now. Up we go!! We are companions on this journey.

Bless you,
Fr. Tim

I’ve been doing a little reading this Lent. One of the books is a slender volume entitled The Ignatian Workout by Tim Muldoon (Loyola Press). There he describes a helpful exercise for anyone wanting to bring themselves to God in prayer.

He points out the fact that each of us has a history of events and experiences that shape who we are and how we perceive the world. The point is to become aware of “what’s in our bag” as we ask God to meet us in prayer.

One of St. Ignatius’s famous prayers begins: “Take Lord, receive, all my memory.” The questions that follow are meant to open your memory bank to see some of the major factors that have made you who you are.

Some point to moments of happiness that have encouraged you along the way. Some questions ask about some of the darker, painful events in your life. (These are remembered not to make us sad all over again. They’re meant just to remind us “that this too has happened.” Recall them and . . . Know you are safe with Him.)

Don’t try to answer them all. But some will “stick out ” with a special feeling and vivid memory. Take some time with them. The point is not to make us happy or sad again. The point is to own them and how they have shaped us. (Remember . . . God knows these things about you and accepts you just as you are. Let His gentle Spirit lead you to Him).

Let me give you an example of how this memory exercise can help your prayer. To the question, “Who have been your heroes?”, I can honestly say I’ve been given several men and women who have been examples of heroic courage and yet great gentleness and kindness.

I truly am blessed with the memory of these people and how they have touched my life. And how do they help me bring myself to God in prayer? They make me grateful to God for giving them to me. They provide a model for what I want to become for God. Sometimes I picture them sitting in the bleachers urging me on as I sit with God in prayer! Goofy, eh?!

So what’s in your bag? Don’t be afraid of it. It’s part of who you are. But remember, God’s not done with you yet!

Oh Happy Lent! God loves you more than you know.

Fr. Tim

Jesus does it again. The gospel this Sunday hits us with a story that says we were created to increase the Glory of God. (The fig tree that has failed to bring forth figs in season). The owner gives it one more season to prove itself in the garden . . . or else!

That’s right, our lives are designed to do good things. And in so doing we reflect the goodness of God. It’s as if God were saying to us, “You are my sons and daughters. You’ve got my stuff in you. Go show the world how beautiful I am.”

That’s all very lovely . . “to be pretty for God” we might say. But if we just like the idea and do nothing more, we’ll fail in our life’s mission. Or as Jesus says else- where, we’ll be like the grain of wheat that refuses to die to itself; it remains “just a grain of wheat.” John 12: 24.

Bearing fruit. It’s not an option. It’s a command. It comes with the package called human life. There are a couple rules that are writ into us from the beginning:

• We are “creatures”. Like the billions of other creatures, the cause of our existence is outside us. We didn’t make ourselves.
• We’re different from every other creature on earth in that we can act with reason and freedom.
• These two qualities (r & f), are to be used to bring forth love, goodness, and truth. (These are the qualities the bible calls “The Glory of God”.)
• If we don’t bring goodness forth, we’ll be like a bird that won’t fly or a kangaroo that won’t hop. We miss our purpose. Oh dear.
• God asks of us what he asks of no other creature… to be his sons and daughters.

But what does this fruit look like? Do we have to do great things? Is there something we must do that wins an award or makes us famous?

No. Jesus comments on this in Luke 19: 15-17. To the servant who has tried in small ways to advance God’s kingdom, the master says “Well done! Since you were faithful in small matters, I will put you in charge of even more.”

“Little” is one of the Lord’s favorite words . . . “unless you become as a little child”, “If you have faith as little as a mustard seed . . .”. He even calls us his “little children” John 13: 33.

So what is our “little part” to play? It’s really right there in front of us. Be a good and faithful: husband/father, wife/mother, friend, team mate, priest, nun, teacher, car- penter, plumber, doctor, artist, musician, etc.

“Do this and you are not far from the Kingdom,” Jesus says. (Mark 12: 34)

Simple eh? Yes, simple but not easy. So many things get in the way. I could give you a long list of the things that keep us from bearing the fruit God calls forth from us, but I think they all line up under the blanket of Pride and Selfishness.

This Lent is a time to take a good look at ourselves. To see ourselves as Christ sees us. Little, needful, trying, failing. Remember that fig tree story . . . there’s a fellow who intercedes for that barren tree saying, “leave it for now. I will cultivate it and fertilize it. Maybe it will bear fruit in the future.” Luke 13: 9.

That fellow is Jesus. He wants to be the fruit your life will bear. “Christ as it were appealing through you.”

One little step at a time . . .

Fr. Tim

Pope Francis puts a new light on the Lenten practice of fasting. Rather than going without sweets, alcohol etc., why not fast from our bad habits?

Here are some suggestions:

• Fast from angry words. They seldom help; most always they hurt.
• Fast from judgements about others and why they are that way. You don’t really know.
• Fast from always following your feelings. Feelings come and go. They have no mind of their own. Listen to them but don’t be a slave to them.
• Fast from always finding “fault”. Try to see the good right next to the “not so good”.
• Fast from seeing yourself as treated unfairly. Think how many times you’ve gotten away with something!
• Fast from thinking “you’re a cut above” the rest. How many people have had the advantages in life that you’ve had?
• Fast from avoiding people you don’t like. They deserve your kindness always.
• Fast from holding on to hurts and disappointments. My sister tells me to “get over it”. She’s right. “Over it” can start something new.
• Fast from blaming (God, the government, the schools, the liberals, the conservatives, the church, etc.).
• Fast from hoarding. Face it, we all have too much. Let some of your (money, clothes, shoes, coats, toys) go.
• Fast from thinking it “all depends on you.” It doesn’t. It’s what God wants. Get in touch with what God wants.

God will whisper what he asks you to do.

Have a blessed Lent.

Fr. Tim

Maybe it was because my father held a rather strict hand in raising his children. Maybe it was the preaching Old Fr. MacIntyre would deliver Sunday after Sunday in my parish growing up. Maybe it was just “the times” back in the fifty’s and early sixties.

Whatever the reason, I’ve always been a little afraid of the words in the Creed which says God “Will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

It tells me that what I do in my life will be examined by God who made me. It’s called “Judgement Day” when “Every one of us will have to give an account of himself/ herself before God.” Romans 14:12

I don’t think we give enough attention to this warning.

We in the United States, we here in Webster (where “life is worth living”), can easily forget that this life of ours will come to an end and then God will have a few questions for us. (I don’t have the slightest idea HOW this will happen . . . but faith tells us somehow there will be a reckoning.)

Other generations had this urgency in their bones. My father, who saw life and death during the war, was fond of telling us that “Life is real and earnest. This is not a dress rehearsal. This is it.”

So many today live a passive response to this urgency. “Whatever” we say carelessly. Or, “that’s a long way off. I can’t be bothered thinking about the end.” Or, “My life is mine to live. Back off.”

We have a choice as to how to imagine our lives. In the end I think it comes down to two basic options. (See if this image makes any sense).

Remember that college or certification class that helped you develop a certain knowledge or skill? You have a choice . . . you can take the course for credit or you can simply audit it.

Auditing has a certain appeal, doesn’t it? It’s cheaper, there’s no essay required and best of all no test. All you have to do is sit there. Take whatever you want and leave the rest. (I audited a course one summer. It was great! I can’t remember a single thing I learned, but I met this really cool girl.)

OR – – – You can take it for credit. This will cost you more in time, money, and sweat. And . . . you will have to show what you’ve learned to get the credit.

So why take the credit course? Because it leads somewhere. It takes you to a new place. You now have something you own and with this achievement you can advance a career, secure a future, realize what you are capable of.

So the question is: are you in this life for credit or are you merely auditing? Jesus has a story that might help you decide. Read Matthew 25: 14-30. (really I mean it, it’ll take three minutes).

An owner gives three people a different sum of money to conduct their portion of the business of running a vineyard. The first two take the money and use it in a way that increases the value of the vineyard. The third fellow takes the money and buries it thinking if he just gives it back that will be enough.

Well guess what? It wasn’t enough. He fired him. The master wanted a return on his investment. He wanted to see some sort of effort to advance the cause of the business.

Jesus tells this story to wake us up. God has given you a life to live. He’s blessed you with certain talents and gifts. What have you done with it?

It’s never too late to begin. All God asks is that we try. He’ll take care of the rest.

This is it. No dress rehearsal.

Fr. Tim

Last Sunday Fr. Dan McMullen took us on a wonderful journey in prayer. (You can see the entire talk on our website.) He spoke about our desire for “good feelings” during prayer and how the lack of them does not mean God is far away. He helped us see how God’s presence can come to us through sacred scripture in the practice of Lectio Divina (Sacred Reading).

To help us see the “tracings” of God’s presence in our day, he left us a set of questions we might ask ourselves at the end of the day. Take your time with these. The answers only come gradually! I like the first one the best. Maybe this could be your evening prayer. Pick one or two and speak them to the Lord.

Fr. Tim

From Benedictus: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue, p. 115

This mind boggling command is in our gospel for this Sunday.

Nowhere, ever, will you find the love of enemy in the law for any nation, any organization, any religion . . . only Christianity has this command. These words were spoken by Our Lord Himself, not to living saints, but to his disciples, rough fishermen, common people. He speaks to you and me.

Think for a moment . . . do you have any enemies? I mean real enemies, someone who wants bad things to happen to you. Someone who tries to hurt you?

If you lived in Israel, or Palestine you could answer “yes”. For the Jew it would be “the Palestinians”, for the Palestinian it would be “the Jews”. For the Serbians it’s the Croats (and vice-versa). And on it goes, Huttus vs. Tutsis, Christians vs. Moslems, and here in America, we could say at times even Democrats and Republicans.

How about you? Do you have any enemies? I’m hard pressed to answer “yes” to that. I have people who don’t like me or don’t trust me (and me toward them); perhaps they are a rival, but I can’t say I know anyone who is my enemy.

Does this clear us from the Lord’s command? “I’m ok here Lord, I don’t have any enemies.” I don’t think so. In the same way Jesus expanded the other commandments of the Torah – – – from shall not kill to shall not grow angry, from shall not commit adultery to shall not even look lustfully – – – so now my “enemy” becomes someone who doesn’t necessarily “hate” me but rather someone who “stands in my way”.

My enemy becomes someone who thinks differently than I. Someone who makes me afraid, someone who, yes, doesn’t like me. Someone who hurt me, and by golly I’m not going to forget that.

And what do we do with this new “expanded” version of enemy? We avoid that person. We gather people around us who feel the same way about that person.

You can see how this natural response to an opposing force begins to divide the human family. Fear, retaliation, mistrust become the atmosphere between families, co-workers, political parties, cultures, religions, and nations.

How can this situation, given human nature, ever change? Or perhaps do we even want it to change? (Isn’t it easier to keep my enemies my enemy?!)

No. Jesus says, “love your enemy.”

But HOW? (Please know I’m trying to do these myself and many of you are much better at this than I am).

Thoughts to help me love my enemy:

• To love, doesn’t mean to feel “sweet” toward my enemy. Bottom line it means to want what is good for them, “that they be well”.
• Who knows what hurtful events have marked their lives. Perhaps their response to me is really just them trying not to be hurt again.
• Inside every human being is someone who (because we are made in God’s image) wants to love and be loved. Every one of us. So my “enemy” is like me!
• How would I wish to be treated by this person? Do that for them.
• In the end, God is bigger than my feelings and fears. If He commands it, then He will help me do it.
• It’s going to hurt. It’s part of the cross we carry for love of Christ.
• No one wants to have or be . . . an enemy.

God help us all with these things. In the end Jesus wants us to love like Him and His Father.

A blessed week to you.

Fr. Tim

What does it mean TO HAVE HOPE?

The common everyday meaning of hope has to do with a DESIRE for some particular thing to happen for me or for others. It’s sort of related to “wishing”. “I wish I could putt (sing, dance, pray. . .) better. Often we’ll use hope to express our best wishes for ourselves and loved ones, hopes that are by no means certain.

For example, I hope you: win the lottery, do well on your SAT’s, get the promotion, meet up with her at the party, find those car keys. And to that hope a friend would “Okay, wish me LUCK.” Good luck because “chances are” it might not happen. The New York Lottery is fond of playing on this “hope” of a win. “Play the Lotto because. . . .Hey, you never know”.

This is not what Christians mean by hope. Hear the words of the Universal Catechism: “Hope is the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises. . . not on our own strength.” (1817). Scripture says, “hold fast the confession of hope, for he who promised is faithful.” Heb. 10:2.

In fact Christian hope has nothing to do with wishing or chance. Through the merits of Christ’s Passion “this hope (of Eternal Life) does not disappoint.” (Rms. 5:5). Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul that enters where Jesus has already gone as a forerunner on our behalf.” (Heb. 6:19-20).

In other words Christian hope IS A SURE THING. It’s for sure because it is based on a promise by God- – – God who can neither deceive nor be deceived. When Jesus (the Word made flesh) says: “I am the resurrection and the life.” “Who ever puts their faith in me will never suffer eternal death”, HE MEANS IT. IT’S A SURE THING. He’s not kidding around. He’s the way, the TRUTH, and the life.

So hope is based on the Word of God (the promises made through Jesus Christ). It is of course preceded by faith. FAITH gives us the power to believe in the words of Christ promises. HOPE now desires those promises as real and attainable. And these two give rise to CHARITY which, given the certainty of the promises, frees us from ourselves and our selfishness. We are then able to love God above all things and our neighbor as we love our- selves.

It is this peaceful, confident (based on God, not us) hope of a blessedness which we at Holy Trinity desire to extend to all who are in need. How? By being people of hope.

Come join us in our mission!

Fr. Tim